Backlit Wildlife… Shade to Light 🤔…..

[Larry S.]

How do others cope with backlit wildlife shooting opportunities. I have the “control ring” on the 400/4.5 S and 600PF assigned for exposure compensation. When the matrix metering grabs the background I dial down the ring to get it right. However, the result is a blown out background without color. Certainly HDR, if brought into the equation solves these issues, but I am not sure it has value with wildlife photography as much as landscape work.

This blue jay is a recent example. A blah blah background. The bird is acceptably sharp but the total image seems lacking because of the background. It was shot in RAW. Is this salvageable via LrC or other editing? ….or is a background like this acceptable …

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[JamesFarrell]

I make every effort to avoid background issues like this if ypossible. The background is really only marginally OK since it’s not full of distracting elements. However it’s much too bright and overwhelms the image. Obviously you know that. Given you shot in RAW you can mask the bright background and reduce the highlights, and raise the brightness of the shadow. The problem with that is then the whole image starts to get a bit unrealistic since the bird is backlit. Not much contrast. What you really need to do, in my opinion, is think about the background lighting when you compose the shot. A BlueJay‘s not a rare bird. So if I were in your shoes, I would try to reshoot with a better, less obtrusive background. Be careful with background lighting when using a PF lens.

 

[JAJohnson]

Is this salvageable via LrC or other editing? ….or is a background like this acceptable …
View attachment 93341

Is the image salvageable? I’d ask what your vision is for this photo.

As @JamesFarrell said, masking the background and reducing highlights and exposure would be a start. As you do so you’ll want to keep a realistic brightness balance between subject and background. Perhaps creative use of an oval shaped radial gradient centered on the bird would create a subtle vignette to isolate it, too.

See if you can capture a subject on that perch with a more pleasing background. That probably means finding a different position to take the shot.

 

[DRwyoming]

I agree with James answer above, background tone and texture is often as important as the main subject and sometimes a shot just doesn’t work. There’s not a simple answer to a situation like that in the sense that there’s no simple aperture shutter speed and ISO combo that will handle that much exposure range gracefully.

Some tough backlit situations can be used to create compelling B&W or color high key images but that usually works best if the bright background is uniform and very clean.

It’s ok to see cool wildlife in situations where a great shot isn’t going to happen but whenever possible I try to figure out if I can reposition myself in a way that makes the background work. And often I just don’t take the shot when light, background and subject aren’t working well together.

 

[JAJohnson]

Some tough backlit situations can be used to create compelling B&W or color high key images but that usually works best if the bright background is uniform and very clean.

Great comment here from @DRwyoming. The image might work beautifully in B&W or high key. Something to experiment with.